Sunday April 23, 17.3mi/27.8km

Lower Courthouse Wash (19.7/4060ft) to Ledge A Campground (35.0/4140ft) (UT) +2.0mi thru Moab

I slept really well and actually didn’t wake up until 7am. My tent was wet with condensation, as I figured might happen….I was camped on grass and not under any tree cover. Oops. I toweled off the inside walls, packed up, and hiked out by 8am. The stream crossing routine continued today, as the trail switched sides of the valley frequently. The crossings were made much easier by these beaver dams. Why are there beavers in Utah? And in the desert?!

I hiked down the lower Courthouse wash for 3 miles / 2 hours, which was mostly enjoyable and entertaining.

The morning light on the red cliffs and green trees looked amazing.

I exited the wash and was on the main highway to Moab. I noticed it was only 10am, so I stopped to view some nearby rocks with pictographs. Cool.

There was a new-ish pedestrian bridge over the Colorado river, which felt much safer than taking the highway.

Sometimes sign graffiti is both funny and accurate.

I walked the 3 miles into town on the bike path, and stopped into a Wendy’s at 11am to charge my phone, battery, etc. I couldn’t resist a Frosty while I was there either! After an hour there, I walked 10 minutes down to the City Market to resupply. I had some snacks left, but needed meals for the next 4 days. I think there should be a hiker Olympics event for fastest resupply, I was done in less than 10 minutes! Ha. I went down the street to get a shower at one of the local outfitters, it was $5 well spent. By the time I left town it was 2pm, and I began the hot roadwalk heading south. Pretty soon I came to the Colorado River.

The road followed it for a couple of miles.

I stopped at the Moonflower Canyon area to have a snack at one of the picnic tables, and noticed some more pictographs!

I hiked on, and in another hour I found the water source I was looking for. Kane springs! It was just dripping out of a horizontal crack on the roadside.

As I hiked further, the canyon became wider and less deep, and I had longer views of the terrain ahead.

Around 6:30 I decided I was ready to be done for the day, so I pulled into one of the many BLM campgrounds along Kane Creek Road.

It was an easy day of mostly roadwalking, hopefully tomorrow is more interesting.